There was a low rumble, a sound like thunder, dust and smoke filling
the air. After the fire and light finally died down there was a eerie
moment of pure silence on the battlefield. The smoke faded, the rough
terrain finally becoming visible, and the figure that watched over it
intently.

Standing there on a platform just above the burning rubble and ruin,
a gorgeous woman dressed all in black leather began to laugh. She threw her
head back happily, her long blond hair flowing around her face as the light
caught on the metal armor over her leather, the handgun that she carried in
her hand gleaming.

"I've won," she loudly crowed, "won!" Flipping her long red cape back
so that it swirled around her she declared, "At long last I have finally
defeated her!"

The piles of rubble below her were quiet, as if cowed by her
frightening will, then suddenly they began to shift slightly. With the
sound of stone grinding on stone, barely visible through the smoke, slowly
the largest chunk of material began to rise up. It teetered there, and in a
final burst of nearly superhuman strength it was tossed aside. Shrugging
off the last pieces of the rubble the woman who was revealed there slowly
stood up, short dark hair falling in her eyes, blood and dirt staining her
military style uniform.

"It can't be," the blonde woman gaped down at her in shock, "it's
simply not possible!" Her face, once so beautiful, was twisted by anger
into something quite inhuman.

Red blood trickled down into her face, and from the look in her dark
eyes it was obvious that she was in immense pain. But her voice rang out
clearly across the ruins, "You haven't beaten me yet, Empress."
Straightening up she met the blonde's gaze defiantly as she loudly
declared, "You will never conquer the people's will to be free."

"You're welcome to try," the soldier answered. The two gazed at each
other intensely, and a spark seemed to strike between them until...

"Cut!" the director called out happily from the sidelines. With that
signal the smoke machines were all shut down, and several crew members
carrying fire extinguishers rushed to put out the fires that were still
burning in the false rubble. "Tanya, Erica, that was just marvelous," the
brown haired, glasses wearing man rushed forward with a broad grin on his
handsome face.

The blonde shook her head slightly at that as she climbed down a
carefully concealed ladder from the raised platform. "I think Erica was the
one with the harder job," Tanya called to him softly. She quickly reached
the ground, then walked over to the other woman stood and worriedly asked
her, "Are you all right?"

Erica Simmons smiled, dusting herself off with one hand. "Oh, this?"
she scooped up some of the blood that was still running down her face. She
dramatically stuck her fingers into her mouth and exclaimed, "Ah, I've
always liked ketchup the best."

"Sorry, Simon," she gave her friend a cheeky little grin. "It really
is made out of ketchup," Erica turned to reassure Tanya.

Tanya Clark reached out, gently getting a bit of the red on her
fingers and sniffing at it cautiously. "Ketchup," she blinked.

"We're on a budget," Simon shrugged, "and the FX guys have found that
diluted ketchup with a bit of die looks really good on film."

"I guess that makes sense," Tanya shook her head.

"And don't downplay your part in this," Erica added. She smiled as
she added, "You can't have a good hero without a great villain."

"Very true," Simon firmly agreed, but he had the oddest smile on his
face as he watched the two of them interacting.

Erica frowned at Simon, and he tried to look innocent. "Now if you
don't mind," the dusty, red stained Erica smiled at them slightly, "I'm
going to go get cleaned up for the next scene."

"Remember, the kiss scene is coming up next," a grinning Simon called
out to her as she was walking away from the two of them.

"You just had to remind me," Erika shot back with a cheeky grin, "I'm
so going to make you pay for all of this later."

"I take it you two are old friends?" Tanya smiled at him slightly as
they headed over to her dressing room. 'What kiss?' she wondered. She had
come onboard this set on Simon's personal recommendation, but she had only
met him herself on a couple of projects a few months ago. 'What kiss is
this?' Obviously he knew the famous Erica Simmons pretty well, to be
talking like that.

"I've known her for years," Simon agreed, "from back when we both
were in Vancouver film school together." He smiled fondly as he remembered,
"It was long before she hit it big on the live action 'Evangelion' movie."

"What roll did she play?" Tanya blinked.

"Shinji Ikari," Simon grinned at the startled look on her face, "she
did the entire movie dressed up in a boy's school uniform or the EVA
plugsuit." He chuckled softly, "All the girls fell in love with her, it was
crazy."

"Remarkable," Tanya murmured, feeling a bit of a blush to her cheeks.
She had been one of those who had fallen for the soulful, angst filled
portrait Erica had created for that character, and the knowledge that it
had been a woman who did that disturbed her oddly.

"I was really impressed," Simon looked over at her with as smile,
"when I saw you in the 'Blood' series of movies."

"Oh, god," Tanya made a face, "those b-movies?"

Simon laughed, "Yeah, they were a bit cheesy. But you were so
striking in them, the vampire fighting her urges to protect others."

"I remember," Tanya admitted. Her manner seemed to change, a dark
expression on he face as she mimed holding a man aloft. "Surrender," she
quoted the role eerily, "I would say surrender or die, but that'd be a bit
redundant."

Simon chuckled softly, "Exactly. You took a fairly two-dimensional
character and made her believable, even sympathetic at times. That's the
sort of thing I thought we needed for this film."

"Well," Tanya smiled, her blonde hair blowing back from her face as
they walked, "I'm just glad you're giving me this opportunity."

"Ah.. there's something that I wanted to mention about the next
scene," Simon said with a false sort of casualness, "just so that you're
prepared."

Tanya looked over at him curiously at that. Simon had that, 'I am in
so much trouble' smile on his handsome face, the same look that he had when
he had told Erica she was going to be completely buried in a pile of foam
cast rubble. She hadn't been on a set with him for very long, but she
already knew that look and voice was going to be trouble.

"Yes?" Tanya asked warily.

"About that kissing scene," Simon's voice dropped to nearly a whisper
as he quietly explained what was going to be happening.

Once Simon finished Tanya looked over at him in shock, "What?!"

It wasn't too long after that when Erica stepped out of her private
trailer, dressed in a much cleaner, undamaged version of the black military
uniform she had worn earlier. She didn't seem very surprised to see Tanya
standing there, waiting for her.

"Simon told you about the kiss, right?" Erica asked the blonde
gently.

Tanya puffed out a nervous breath, "I don't remember seeing that in
any script I got." She looked over at Erica, "How did that happen?"

"Simon and the writer got to talking after we finished shooting on
the first day," Erica smiled at her wryly, "something that you should never
let happen while making a movie."

"It's happened before?" Tanya blinked.

"Oh, yes," Erica agreed, "It seems they got into the sexual tension
going on between the heroine and the villainess and decided that it should
really be realized at least once."

Tanya waved the day's script pages around, the bunch of sheets
matching those given to the rest of the actors. "So they decided to add
this scene in?" she sighed.

"That's pretty much it," Erica gave her a thoughtful look, as if she
was considering saying something more.

"What?" Tanya asked.

"If the kiss is a real problem for you," Erica finally said softly,
"I'm pretty sure that Simon could ask someone to stand in for you then. A
bit of digital editing later and I bet that no one would even know the
difference."

Tanya frowned slightly, standing there silently for a few moments.
"Maybe so," she finally said, "but I'd know it wasn't me." She looked over
to meet Erica's eyes, "I'll do it."

"Don't worry, I'll promise to be a perfect gentleman," Erica smiled
back at her as she gently offered this reassurance.

Tanya looked over at her fellow actress, and was struck by how
handsome she really was. The dark hair styled boyishly, a man's military
uniform, and that oh so charming smile. "Gee, thanks," she managed to
answer with a smile.

'Tanya really is cute,' Erica reflected as she watched the tall
blonde walking away from her, 'and a real trooper, too. I know quite a few
actresses who would have just flat out refused to do any of this,
especially after it being sprung on them.'

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